


Chilali

by Sternenstaub



Series: Elemental Thedas [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Fire, MCiT, MGiT, Modern Character in Thedas, Modern Girl in Thedas, Snow, Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-04
Updated: 2017-01-04
Packaged: 2018-09-14 18:20:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,814
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9197726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sternenstaub/pseuds/Sternenstaub
Summary: She woke up covered in snow and saw Haven destroyed. She could not save everyone but maybe the Herald was not yet lost.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of a collection of Oneshots I may or may not build further about MGIT´s entering Thedas in a different form. A form that might help them but also makes them vulnerable and feared.

I was cold, alone and shrieking in pain. Every single nerve in my body was burning, my limbs flailing around uncontrolled. Darkness was surrounding me, whispering sweet, calling me into the white void in front of me.  
I knew could not resist the sweet call, not going to them felt not even like a possibility. A pain I had never known was pushing me forward, lessening with every step. Every step nearer to the bright whiteness in front of me was one step away from the hot searing pain my limbs were sending me, one step into blissful numbness.  
I did not know how I was even able to move in this hellish limbo. I could not think straight, my mind only wanted to get away from the pain, only the very basic survival instincts were working in this very moment. And every single one of them told me to go forward into the white, but wasn´t the white light supposed to be the end of my life, the gate to the afterworld. Was I dead? I had hoped death would not hurt.  
The blinding white came nearer, even though I had stopped moving some time ago, my body was not any longer on the verge of breaking but finally broken. I felt me knees hit the ground some time ago but did not realize I was writhing on the ground until now. If I was dead, why was my body here?  
The white was surrounding me and my pain ended in a sudden peak and then in blissful numbness. I was no longer cold and could not feel a single nerve any longer. Darkness surrounded me once again but this time I did not mind. Maybe I had braved the passage into the afterlife and the light and pain had freed me of my sins?

My head was lying on something soft, something that felt more comfortable than any pillow I ever owned and my body seemed to be covered by a very similar material, soft as silk and still warm. I stirred a little, my nose felt itchy, a smokey smell was waking me up from my peaceful slumber. Was someone having a barbecue? I could life in a world with soft blankets and barbecues around the corner. 

My eyes opened slowly, assessing my unknown surroundings. Everything was white at first. Not blinding white, mind you, but a calm white, a white that promised to protect me. A few dark trees were marring the white landscape and I looked up into the sky and my mind froze. The sky was blue as he was supposed to be, a few clouds swirling in a circular pattern, but there, right over my head, an ugly green whirl was ripping it apart. Every hair on my neck was standing upright in fear, this was not natural, this was not how it was supposed to be. And most of all, why the heck was my heaven in Dragon Age Inquisition?!?

I fell down on my knees once again and wondered why it didn´t hurt, the floor felt quite nice actually. I buried my hands into the white and noticed with a start it was snow, simple old snow. But it felt all wrong, it was not cold, it felt not scratchy and did not melt in my hands. It felt nice and right and like the silk blanket I had slept under. I looked at my hands and my arms, my torso was barely covered be some piece of cloth I may have once bought but that was not linger recognizable, so I was not quite sure. Why was I not freezing. I was sitting in the middle of some snowy mountain, as far as I could tell from the view around me, my modesty barely covered by clothes I could hardly recognize, but I was not cold. 

My nails were a pale blue, my skin was almost as white as the snow, glittering in the sun like it was frozen itself. It was fascinating, in the right light my skin looked like thousand little frozen flowers were inked into it. I had always loved frost flowers at the windows and now I looked like one but I sure as hell would not start breaking out into song anytime soon or arouse a talking snowman.

While examining my skin I noticed one strand of hair falling into my eyes and wished it away in an unconscious gesture but the color I saw stopped me short. It was white. My hair was white! I was in no was old enough to have white hair! 

My breathing accelerated and the world around me dimmed a little. What the?!? How vain could I be not to freak out over my skin but one strand of white hair set me into panic mode?  
I took some deep breaths and looked at my new found hair color a little closer. It was not grey-white as I had first feared but rather white as the snow in front of me. I knew I was getting a little repetitive with the metaphors regarding my new coloring but really, can you blame me? Snow was what I was seeing all around me. There was not much in terms of reference. And my hair even felt a little crystalline. It sparkled in the sun just like the rest of me. I suddenly groaned, I had become a frigging twilight Vampire, sparkling in the sun and all that! God, I could never take a step outside like this, it was too embarrassing.  
My thoughts were interrupted when I remembered I was not at home any longer. If the sky was anything to go with, I was in Thedas and the Cullen Vampires were most likely not related to our beloved and feared Commander.

Shaking myself out of my stupor I started to take a better look of my surroundings. Snow, so much was obvious, some trees, not really surprising, a mountain at my side and a valley in front of me. Rather nice and quaint all around.  
The smoke that had woken me seemed to have drifted from the valley all the way up. I saw some small huts huddled around a big building, looking like a church, or rather chantry, if we were to talk in Thedas terms. 

I knew that village! If I had not still been sitting in the snow I sure as hell would have flomped right back. That was Haven in front of me! And by the smoke and smells and light I could make out it seemed like they were celebrating something.

Oh no! Quickly I looked back up at the breach. It looked scary and intimidating and made me want to snarl at it but it definitely looked calmer than I would have imagined it before the Herald tried closing it with the help of the mages or templars. I dearly wished not to know at what point in time I had landed.  
The little village looked so happy and peaceful. I could not make out any sounds and the people I had only known as NPC´s were milling around like ants but the knowledge of what would soon happen to them was terrifying. 

The first sound I heard was the bell chiming the alarm.  
A cold shiver ran down my spine, well, just a shiver since I didn´t feel the cold any longer. I looked beyond the valley and could make out torches and more ants crawling towards Haven. Corypheus!

Every thought I could have had about helping them was crumbling. There was not even enough time to reach the valley before the army would be there, before the dragon would destroy them and the avalanche would do the rest. I did not want to watch the ants I knew to be people, die. But it also felt wrong to walk away and ignore their plight. Even if I could not help them I felt like I at least had to honor the soon fallen by not running away. 

Maybe I could find the passage Roderick would show them and help them this way? A little further down I could see a small cave in the mountainside. Incredible how easy one could see thing in the snow if one were not blinded and not in the middle of a frigging snow storm.  
I finally stood up, feeling a little wobbly on my own two legs. This body seemed to have changed not only in color but also in weight and height. I was not downright skinny, that would have been a too big shock for my rather curvy self, but I had lost a lot of weight and my arms and legs seemed to be longer than I was used to. I stumbled a little the first few steps. Not only my body was betraying me but it was also disconcerting to barely sink into snow you knew to be half a meter deep. It was like I was wearing invisible snow shoes just without the added inconvenience to walking. If I still had not been quite so shocked and vacant by all of it, it might have been fun actually. Even more if I had not heard the first Catapult being fired down in the valley. 

It had begun.

It took me not all that long to reach the cave and once I saw the insides I noticed my brain must have been filled with snow as well. The cave as not where Haven would flee through, it was where the Herald would land! The game had never actually showed us the secret passageway the people of Haven took as far as I could remember. 

Well then, maybe I could help out the Herald. Haven´s fresh former residents were more likely to attack me on sight anyway. I was sure I looked strange enough for them to think me dangerous right after their battle.  
I silently sneaked into the cave entrance, hoping the rift and the demons had not yet spawned. And was actually lucky for once. It was eerily quiet in there and my steps were loud. I walked until a sudden incline told me this would be a road with no way back should I take it. I had no idea how the Herald had made most of these tunnels in his/her state. But it seemed like I could not help soften their fall. Maybe I could make their live easier showing them the way the others took.  
With that in mind I tracked back outside. And saw the dragon start attacking. What had smelled like a barbecue now made me sick.

I stood still in the snow and saw the little quaint village burn to ashes, saw the ants trying to flee and more ants with a little red shine pursuing them. I saw the dragon land and more ants fighting against him until an avalanche buried everything. The fireball that had been the sign for that last desperate attack was much closer than I had expected and I saw Haven´s battered people emerge from the woods a few hundred meters away. 

Standing still like a stature of ice I watched them struggle through the snow. Some children looked at me, frightened and pointed their tired parents my way but it seemed everyone thought me to be some strange part of the snow or maybe just an imagination of an overworked mind and the snow dancing around them. 

A storm was starting to brew, I could feel it and it made some primal part in me happy, even though I feared for the people in front of me. I followed their trail with my eyes and since the snow did not yet hinder my sight I could see them walking until they vanished behind an incline. There they must have made up camp. A few small fires littered their way, not actual big campfires, just roadmarks in their desperate hope their Herald may yet live and come back to them.

I turned around to the cave but did not enter it this time. The dark green light shining out of it was a dead giveaway for demons and I was not keen on trying to fight them. I was a being of snow it seemed, that did not mean I was suddenly a fighter or any good at evading. And if I should ever have the misfortune of meeting a rage demon I was sure just the proximity would kill me.  
I sat down at the entrance and waited for a long time. The snow storm got stronger every hour and made seeing a lot harder with all the little white flakes right in front of me.  
The Herald must have been unconscious for quite some time, I just hoped this stupid world I was in followed the known timeline. After all, I did still not know where I were, how I had come here and if I really was in Thedas or had just died and laded in some kind of strange limbo my mind had produced.  
Well, whatever, I did not feel cold and since I did not have anything to read or enough light for reading anyway I could as well wait here a little longer.

A few minutes or hours later I heard a muffled boom and the green light from the entrance had vanished. A big looming shadow was coming my way. A lot taller than I had imagined and build like a football-player. Even before I saw a shadow of the horns, I knew, the Herald was Qunari and male if those shoulders were anything to go by.

He was actually startled enough to jump and eek! a little once he saw me waiting for him. I had to hold in my snicker. He did not know me nor I him and I was sure laughing over him was not the way to gain his trust.  
He looked battered and ready to collapse but his hand still reached for his massive sword and he was obviously ready to fight me.

“Now now, little one, no attacking the guide if you don´t want to get lost outside.” I admonished him. A strong but motherly approach might work best, from what I knew and the way the Herald looked he was not all that old.

He stilled, obviously confused about me and not really trusting his senses he was not imagining me. “Who are you?” he asked a little dazed. I sure hoped he had not hit his head too hard in his fall. “Chilali, just call me Chi.” I answered and tucked at his arm. He looked like he was about to collapse and I still had to lead him to their healers. He desperately needed one. The moment I touched him his face became one of wonder. “I don´t feel as cold any longer! What did you do?” 

Well, good question, if anything I would have expected to feel even colder to him, not to shelter him from the blizzard in front of us. I shrugged my shoulders and tugged again. “We really have to go now, I don´t want you frozen on the spot.” This seemed to wake him up from his wonder and he lumbering tramped behind me through the snow, not letting go of my hand. 

What was for me an easy walk, was for his heavy frame a fight with the snow reaching almost his hips. I walked slowly, still sure where to go and encouraged him every time he stopped walking but we did not talk any more. He needed every bit of breath and concentration he had to go onwards. He was so exhausted, he did not even ask how I could know where he had to go. I could have lead him into the middle of the blizzard and left him there and he would not have noticed it. Good thing I was not some kind of malevolent snow spirit. We met the little campfires and every single one seemed to renew his determination to come out of this alive. Once we reached the peak I saw Inquisition soldiers and Cullen scrambling towards us. They did not know they were seeing me and not their Herald in the snowstorm but they were coming this way. 

With a quick kiss on his temple I left the stumbling Qunari. “It´s okay now, you will be okay. They are coming for you.” With that I vanished into the snow. I was not keen on Cullen attacking me on sight. Maybe I would look for Skyhold on my own and try talking to them there. I wondered if the Inquisitor would remember me or if his concussion had been too bad for lasting memories.


End file.
